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Innovative machine grows new skin for burn victims
Swiss startup develops world’s first machine to produce individually personalised human tissue with potentially life-saving and life-changing outcomes.
CUTISS develops world’s first machine to produce personalised human tissue
Last month, CUTISS AG, a Swiss clinical-stage life sciences company focused on skin regenerative medicine and tissue engineering, unveiled the world’s first automated machine to produce customised skin tissue grafts for adults and children with severe skin injuries, such as deep burns. Developed in collaboration with the leading Swiss research center CSEM, the denovoCast machine demonstrates the feasibility of automating the bio-engineered skin manufacturing process, and seeks to revolutionise the current available treatments for severe skin defects.
Daniela Marino, CEO of CUTISS, commented: “Every year over 11 million people suffer from severe burns which require surgery. Skin is our largest organ, so how do you produce enough skin quickly and affordably to treat these patients? Together with our partner CSEM, we used technological solutions to develop the denovoCast machine and automate the production of denovoSkin, our personalised skin tissue treatment.” Source: Cutiss.Swiss Vincent Revol, Head Research and Business Development for Life Science Technologies, CSEM, said: “Automated manufacturing of cell products in closed systems is a must for all regenerative therapies trying to enter the market today because it reduces dramatically the risk of microbial contamination while ensuring standardised quality and lower production costs. Knowing that our work may impact the lives of millions of patients is a unique source of motivation for the whole team.” Source: Cutiss.Swiss
Significant need for patients with severe burns
When patients suffer from disastrous large and deep burns, the ability to quickly, affordably and consistently provide large quantities of skin grafts is essential. Survival of major burns is closely related to how fast definitive wound closure is achieved.
Speeding and scaling up the culturing process of bio- engineered, personalised skin grafts can be a game changer and crucial for saving more lives of patients with major burns, sparing patient healthy skin donor sites. Annually, 11 million patients suffer from severe burns and require skin surgery to restore skin function.
The EU and US markets for severe burns is estimated to be over $2 billion and for burn scar reconstruction is estimated over $5 billion. The current standard of care – autografting – is often scarce due to donor site shortages, produces skin that is too thin and results in permanent painful, debilitating, disfiguring scars that frequently require follow up corrective surgeries.
The denovoCast machine produces a particular type of skin tissue called denovoSkin, a bio-engineered and personalised dermo-epidermal skin graft developed by CUTISS. It is an innovative process involving the growth of new skin using the body’s own tissue as the template.
The denovoSkin, which is in Phase IIb clinical trials in the European Union and also accessible on a compassionate use basis, has unique features that promise to surpass any current medical treatment for large and deep skin injuries, with potentially life-saving and life-changing outcomes. It promises to grow with the patient, limit scarring, and drastically reduce the number of follow up corrective surgeries required, particularly in children.
denovoCast machine greatly improves output and quality of skin tissue
The process for bio-engineering the denovoSkin has so far been manual, lengthy, and requiring a costly clean room, and highly trained personnel. The denovoCast machine automates tissue formation in a fully closed process, requiring no manual intervention. It ensures consistent reproducible quality, enables the simultaneous cultivation of multiple skin grafts, and is expected to reduce production times by more than 30%.
The operational denovoCast machine will now undergo research-grade testing at CUTISS to demonstrate its effectiveness and efficiency in research and clinical settings according to (Good Manufacturing Practice) GMP rules.
Vincent Ronfard, Chief Innovation Officer of CUTISS, remarked: “By scaling up the production of skin grafts with this ground breaking technology, we can potentially reach many patients in need of life- saving and life-changing treatment. This technology has potential applications for regenerative medicine for other tissues and organs.” Source: Cutiss.Swiss A world-first innovation in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. This can lead to life-saving and life-changing medical treatments for millions of people with severe skin injuries. Source: CSEM Gilles Weder, Team Leader Life Microtechnologies of CSEM, said: “Innovation in regenerative medicine is challenging in a highly regulated environment. CSEM and CUTISS bring together the disciplines of biology, engineering and clinical practice to meet this challenge. For denovoCast we validated our approach with patient cells throughout all stages of the development process to ensure a successful transfer from the lab to the clinic.” Source: Cutiss.Swiss CUTISS is a Swiss clinical-stage life sciences company focused on skin regenerative medicine and tissue engineering. It is developing the first personalised and automated skin tissue therapy offering life-saving and life-changing medical treatments for patients with severe skin injuries. The lead product ‘denovoSkin’ promises to take skin surgery to the next level and revolutionise current treatments. Source: Cutiss.Swiss CSEM is a Swiss research and development center active in the fields of precision microfabrication, digitalisation, and renewable energy. CSEM builds up the ties between industry and academia. It supports companies as a hub of ingenuity, a center of technological excellence and innovation, and accelerator of the digital transformation. Source: Cutiss.Swiss
This machine grows new skin for burn patients Developed by Cutiss AG CSEM Source: Facebook/WorldEconomicForum
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